One four the team

Made up of creative directors Tony Bradbourne, Rob Jack and Heath Lowe, along with account director Michael Redwood, Special is making its mark in New Zealand as an agency that practices what it preaches. The agency’s work for The Green Party, V Australia and Orcon, is proof that clients are listening, and are more than glad they did. With wins at the Effies, Axis Awards and Designer’s Institute of New Zealand already under the belt, Special is living up to the name.

When did you first meet? How did you start working together?

Tony: Heath and I met in a coffee shop in Amsterdam. He was running his own design company, helping Weiden out on Nike, and 180 on Adidas, amongst other things. I was working on pan-European Volvo stuff. We then found ourselves down in New Zealand.

Rob: I met the guys when I was going through a period of creative rehab at Consortium, after a brush with a multinational agency. Collectively we shared the same intolerance of compromise, and the desire to do better work than we could see around us. So we decided to put our money where our mouths were and set up our own shop in 2007.

Heath: Within 12 months, we had picked up some great clients including Volvo, The Green Party, Max Fashions and AUT University. We then decided that we needed to take the business to a new level: enter Michael.

Michael: I was running the Air New Zealand business and Fonterra at Colenso, and first became aware of Special through Nick Worthington (Colenso BBDO NZ executive creative director), who’d worked with Tony and Rob. He said that they were the ones to watch. So, when Tony rang me out of the blue one day, I thought it was worth a coffee at least.

Tony: We were looking for the best suit in the business. We asked a lot of people, and Michael’s name kept coming up. And, when we saw him up on stage at the Axis Awards picking up best in show, that clinched it.

So how does this creative partnership work?

Rob: I think how we work is a bit different. We’ve taken all the walls out between account service, planning, design and creative, and we all literally sit around one very large table.

Heath: The creative partners are involved from the very start, from the first meeting with a client. This means that the creative thinking is applied from the beginning. We think it’s as important to think creatively about the strategy as it is about the communications.

Tony: The way we integrate brand design with advertising art direction is different too. I used to get frustrated at being handed design systems that took any uniqueness out of creative executions.

Heath: And I got sick of saying “Nice ad dude … but where’s the brand?” What works well for our clients is that Tony and I collaborate closely on the visual aspect of all our work, and we think it shows in the high level of craft in Special’s work.

Michael: At the end of the day, advertising is about talent and this creative team works well because it’s made up of three world-class talents who enjoy working together. Our clients sense this and seem to value it.

Do the others have any annoying habits?

Tony: Heath makes the rest of us look decidedly un-cool.

Rob: Tony has the annoying habit of usually being right. And Michael is an annoyingly good creative director for a suit.

Do you ever fight?

Heath: Not really. Don’t have time.

Michael: Colenso’s Nick Worthington told me the only thing that might hold Special back was that we were all a bit too nice. But that hasn’t stopped Nick.

What are your respective strengths/weaknesses?

Rob: As an agency, I think strong strategic thinking coupled with attention-grabbing creative. Weaknesses – I guess ‘perfectionism’ isn’t so great when you’re working at home on the laptop at 12.15am, long term.

Tony: The agency is all about effective creative work, rather than ‘creative’ creative work.

What frustrates you about working in advertising?

Rob: Creative plaudits being given to indulgent and ineffectual advertising. It does the creative industry a disservice. Oh, and ads that rely on borrowed interest.

Tony: The debate about “indie” versus multinational. Shouldn’t it just be about who’s doing good stuff and who’s not?

Michael: Every day brings its own string of frustrations, but every day they are outweighed by the variety of this industry, and the sheer satisfaction of seeing your work make a difference to a client’s business.

Where do you look for inspiration?

Rob: Anywhere outside the building. Life in general is a pretty good start point. DVDs, the news, conversations with mates, kids …

Tony: It comes when you are not looking for it.

Career highlights?

Michael: Breaking the record for the most Effies won by a single campaign (three golds) for The Green Party was pretty cool.

Tony: The Orcon/Iggy Pop campaign was the most challenging campaign any of us have been involved with. But seeing Iggy linked live via Orcon broadband to nine New Zealanders was amazing.

Heath: Designing and launching our own vodka brand – Mr Vodka – from scratch.

Rob: Winning a bank (Special was appointed by TSB Bank).

How do you stay sane?

Tony: We all have young families that ensure we leave the office at a sensible time.

Rob: I’m not sure that young families keep us sane, but it’s certainly a reality check.

Any mentors?

Tony: Chuck Porter visited Special last year. And, when I was in Miami shooting Iggy Pop, I got to visit his place. I’ve got all the time in the world for this guy. I’ll take any pearls of wisdom from the guy who built CP+B.

Rob: Not mentors, but inspirational to me (in no particular order) are Nick Worthington, John Hegarty, Roy Meares and Jonathon Kneebone.

Heath: My first boss and design guru Hal Woolverton. “Heath, it takes courage to do what we do,” is my favourite quote (of his).

Michael: Roger MacDonnell. I was fortunate to work closely with him over my time at Colenso. He’s a creative director but also the best account man I’ve met. He built New Zealand’s most iconic agency and kept it focused on the work for 40 years.

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